President Donald Trump and other conservatives may have professed reluctance to “politicize” other mass shootings by mentioning gun control, but that didn’t stop the president from jumping all over the New York City terrorist attack to call for more restrictive immigration policies.
In NYC, looks like another attack by a very sick and deranged person. Law enforcement is following this closely. NOT IN THE U.S.A.!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2017
We must not allow ISIS to return, or enter, our country after defeating them in the Middle East and elsewhere. Enough!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2017
My thoughts, condolences and prayers to the victims and families of the New York City terrorist attack. God and your country are with you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2017
The Republican House members are working hard (and late) toward the Massive Tax Cuts that they know you deserve. These will be biggest ever!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 1, 2017
I have just ordered Homeland Security to step up our already Extreme Vetting Program. Being politically correct is fine, but not for this!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 1, 2017
The terrorist came into our country through what is called the "Diversity Visa Lottery Program," a Chuck Schumer beauty. I want merit based.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 1, 2017
We are fighting hard for Merit Based immigration, no more Democrat Lottery Systems. We must get MUCH tougher (and smarter). @foxandfriends
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 1, 2017
"Senator Chuck Schumer helping to import Europes problems" said Col.Tony Shaffer. We will stop this craziness! @foxandfriends
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 1, 2017
As Toronto Star journalist Daniel Dale pointed out, Trump started attacking Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer around the same time that former Trump adviser Sebastian Gorka was doing likewise on “Fox & Friends.”
I guess it's not too soon to politicize a tragedy.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) November 1, 2017
Sayfullo Saipov, the 29-year-old Uzbek suspect in Monday’s terrorist attack in New York City, came to the United States through the Diversity Visa Program, according to ABC News. The program is designed to increase immigration rates from countries that are comparatively lower by giving 55,000 green cards each year to people who are mainly from Africa or Eastern Europe, according to Newsweek. Applicants need to undergo two years of vetting, be free of any criminal background, contain at least a high school or equivalent level of education and possess at least two years of work experience within the last five years.
There have been multiple previous efforts from the right-wing to repeal the program, most recently when Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., proposed the Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy Act. The White House supported that bill and said in a statement that the Diversity Visa lottery program was “outdated” and “serves questionable economic and humanitarian interests.”
According to Anna O. Law, a political scientist and the author of “The Immigration Battle in American Courts,” the right-wing opposition to the Diversity Visa Lottery misunderstands the complicated history of that legislation — one that has nothing to do with “political correctness,” regardless of what Trump might want to believe.
In stark contrast to Trump’s quickness at jumping on the New York City terrorist attack to promote an anti-immigration agenda, the president outright refused to acknowledge that the Las Vegas shooting was an appropriate time to begin discussing gun control.
“Today is a day for consoling the survivors and mourning those we lost. Our thoughts and prayers are certainly with all of those individuals. There’s a time and place for a political debate, but now is the time to unite as a country,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump’s press secretary, told reporters after the Las Vegas shooting.
